Crimping tool



June 25, 1963 G. USTlN ETAL 3,094,702

CRIMPING TOOL Filed March 27, 1961 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 l N 1' E N TERS sapqs $77M LIL/4. H/luc/E BY ATTO R N EY June 25, 1963 Filed March 27. 1961 G. USTIN ETAL CRIMPING TOOL 4 Sheets-Sheet I5 INVENTORS ATTORNEY,

June 25, 1963 us T 3,094,702

CRIMPING TOOL Filed March 27, 1961 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 INVENTORS 50A 5 ST/N flL/L HUG/(E w ATTORNEY United States Patent 3,094,702 CRIMPING TOOL George Ustin, Verona, and Paul A. Haucke, Rahway,

NJ, assignors to Buchanan Electrical Products Corporation, Hiliside, N.J., a corporation of New Jersey Filed Mar. 27, 1961, Ser. No. 98,672 Claims. (Cl. 1220) This invention relates to crimping tools and more particularly to crimping tools utilizing the cam actuated closed ring dieholder type of construction.

Crimping tools of the general type herein of concern which incorporate a bored dieholder rigidly mounted in a carrier member, a plurality of radially disposed crimping dies reciprocably mounted therein and an associated operating member having a cammed die member actuating surface mounted for relative displacement relative to the dieholder and carrier member are disclosed in US. Patent No. 2,933,000, issued to D. R. Wood on April 19, 1960. However, this type of tool is adapted to crimp electrical contacts which have a closed or circular wire receiving ferrule portion.

Heretofore, pliers type or what can be called a split die type of tool have been used to crimp what is known in the art as open sided ferrule electrical contacts. In the split die pliers type of tool, one die is held stationary while a complementary die is rotated into engagement therewith. It will be evident that with this type of tool, one set of complementary dies can crimp only one size contact so that in order to expand the utility of the tool some have been constructed with a number of different sets of dies for crimping different size contacts. A tool of this general class is shown in Patent No. 2,696,747, issued to M. D. Bergan on December 14, 1954. On the other hand, other crimping tools of the pliers type have provided for interchanging of dies to accommodate different type contacts. It has also been a problem in the pliers type crimping tool to properly align and hold the electrical contacts between the dies so that a uniform crimp is attained as well as assuring that the wire is properly inserted in the ferrule portion of the contact.

It is therefore a primary object of this invention to provide a crimping tool which will crimp a wide variety of electrical contacts with one set of dies.

It is another object of this invention to provide a crimping tool which includes means for properly orienting and positioning electrical contacts between a pair of converging dies.

It is still another object of this invention to provide a crimping tool which is compact and which controls the crimp depth and insures full cycling of the tool over a wide range of electrical connectors.

This invention may be briefly described as a crimping tool having a bored dieholder in which is mounted a pair of opposed crimping dies engaged by an operating member which is capable of rotation in respect thereto to cause the dies to converge upon and crimp a workpiece positioned in the bore by means of a floating locator member.

Among the advantages of the hereinafter described tool is its ability to crimp different sizes and types of contacts with one set of dies; the assurance of a uniform crimp due to the proper aligning of the contact with respect to the crimping dies; and the compactness of the tool brought about by causing both dies to converge on the crimping location rather than holding one stationary and pivoting the other die into engagement therewith.

The novel features of this invention, both as to its organization and method of operation, as well as additional objects and advantages thereof, will be understood more fully from the following description and when 3,094,702 Patented June 25, 1963 read in connection with the accompanying drawing in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of one form of contact which can be crimped by the improved crimping tool;

FIG. 2 is a side elevation, with part of one handle broken away and the return plate shown in phantom so that the dieholder and dies can be seen;

FIG. 3 is the reverse side of the crimping tool according to the invention with parts of the handle removed and other parts broken away to better show the ratchet mechanism and locator member;

FIG. 4 is an elevational sectional view showing the dieholder, front dies and return pla-te (together with fragmentary views of the handles) of a tool in accordance with the invention with the parts in their open position;

FIG. 5 is an elevational sectional view showing the dieholder, rear dies and locator member with the parts in the same position as shown in FIG. 4;

FIG. 6 is an elevational sectional view showing the dieholder, spring return, locator and dies with the pants in the same position as shown in FIG. 4;

FIG. 7 is a sectional view taken along the line 7-7 of FIG. 4;

FIG. 8 is a sectional view taken along the line 8-8 of FIG. 2;

FIG. 9 is a top sectional view of the locator member with a contact positioned in the locator opening;

FIG. 10a is an exploded, perspective view of various elements of the dieholder, dies and camming handle according to the present invention;

FIG. 1% is an exploded, perspective view of the end of one of the handles and locator member and positioning plates;

FIG. 11 is an exploded, perspective view of another form of dieholder and dies according to the invention;

FIG. 12 is an exploded, perspective view of another form of contact tongue and locator member opening according to this invention.

Referring, now, more particularly to the drawings, a crimping tool 10 forming the subject matter of the herein disclosed invention is illustrated which includes generally, a pair of handles 12 and 14, a full cycling ratchet mechanism 16, a dieholder 18 and a locator member for positioning contacts in said tool.

Turning now to FIGS. 2 and 3 of the drawings, a pair of handles 12 and 14 are shown which are adapted to be pivotally connected at one of their extremities. Handle 14 is generally U-shaped in section and has an enlarged portion 22 (see FIG. 10b) at the pivoted end thereof, that includes a central circular opening 26 in each side thereof along with four equi-spaced openings 24 arranged symmetrically about and spaced from openings 26. The openings 24 are designed to accommodate fastening units such as bolts 28 or the like when the component parts of the tool are assembled. Handle 12 which is also referred to hereinafter as an operating member is of solid one piece cast iron construction having an enlarged extremity 30 which has an opening 32 therethrough considerably larger than openings 26. Extremity 30 is adapted to be positioned between the sides of the enlarged portion 22 of handle 14 with opening 32 aligned with openings 26. As shown in FIG. 10a the periphery of opening 32 is formed with a number of equi-spaced cam ming surfaces 34.

Designed to be confined in opening 32 in handle 12 is a generally disc shaped dieholder 18 which has a pair of parallel sides 35 and 36 terminating at a circular outer periphery 38. Four openings '37 are uniformly spaced from the axis of the disc and align with openings 24 in handle 14 when the tool is assembled so that bolts 23 extending through the handle openings 24 also extend through the openings 37 thereby securing dieholder 18 -'to be hereinafter explained.

'lar to contact 74. sets of ears similar to ears 78 while others have two sets to the enlarged portion 22 of handle 14. It will be evident from the above that handle 14 is designed to hold dieholder 18 stationary while handle 12 is rotated in a clockwise and counterclockwise direction around the outer periphery 38 thereof. A rectangular groove 39 is cut in side 35 of the dieholder 18 with the ends ill and 42 thereof opening into opposite portions of the circular outer periphery 38. A non-circular axial bore 44 is formed through the dieholder 18 with one end thereof opening through side 36 and the other end atthe bottom surfaceof groove 39. The axis of the bore 44- is off-center in relation to the axis of dieholder 1 18 for reasons that will belater apparent and the periphery thereof is somewhat elongated along'the bottom of the .groove with the sides parallel to the groove walls and the ends semicircularin shape.

A pair of ports '46, 48 (see FIG. 6) extend inwardly from opposite portions of the outer periphery 38 at right angles to the groove 39 and are preferably circular in cross section. A spring 50 is loosely positioned in each port with a circular'ball 51 on'the end thereof having part of its surface extend outpast the periphery 38 to thereby engage one of the camming surfaces 34 of handle 12. Therefore, when the handle 12 is rotated in a clockwise direction around'the dieholder 18, the balls 51 are forced inwardly thereby compressing the spring 50 so that after the handles reach their limit of convergence and the later described full cycling mechanism is released the springs will force handle 12 in a counterclockwise direction thereby separating the handles and preparing the'tool for another cycle.

As best seen in FIGS. a and 10b, side 35of dieholder "18 is partially cut away to accommodate a return plate substantially circular member which has a large opening 56 through the center thereof and a pair of oppositely facing arms 58 and 60 which culminate in beveled ends which engage the camming surfaces 34 of handle '12.. Plate 54 is formed with a pair of carnming surfaces 62 and 64 which are positioned over the groove 39 (seeFIG. 4) for purpose to be hereinafter described.

Located in the groove 39 on opposite sides of the bore 44 are two sets of complementary dies 66, 68 and 70, 72 for crimping a contact similar to one illustrated in FIG. 1. However, it will be evident from the following description that dies 66, 68 and 70, 72are merely illustrative and that a number of differentshaped dies could be positioned in groove 39 to crimp difierent types of open ferrule contacts or selected types of closed ferrule contacts.

Referring momentarily to FIG. 1, one form of contact 74- which can be crimped by the herein described tool is illustrated which includes a tongue portion 76 which has a depending tab 77 and a fer-rule portion which is formed with two sets of ears 78 and-80. Ears 80 are adapted to be crimped to the bared portion 82 of an insulated wire (see FIG. 7) and ears 78 to-the-insulated portion 84 of the wire. A protrusion 86 is formed on the under side of the contact 76 forreasons Many different types of contacts are known in the art which are somewhat simi- Some of these contacts have two of cars similar to ears 80. Still other types of contacts have only one set of-ears or a different shaped tongue 4: sides of bore '44 with their sides in engagement with the parallel walls of the groove. Die 66 has an elongated body portion 88 formed with an opening 90 therethrough.

66. However, the other end of the die 68 is formed with a recess 184 which has a flared outer section "186 and a semicircular inner section 108. Therefore, when a contact 74 is positioned between the two dies 66, 68 in amanner to be later described, and the dies are caused to converge thereon, the underside of contact74 engages :and rest-s on die 66 with ears '78 contacting the flared portion 106 of the recess 184 thereby being curved and forced inwardly around the insulated portion 84 of -a wire positioned in the contact 74. As the dies 66, 68 get closer together, the ears 78 are further curved around the wire by the inner section 108 with the end result being a tight connection between the contact and the insulted portion 84 of the wire as shownin FIG. 8.

Placed in juxtaposition with dies 66, 68 is a second set of dies 70, 72 one of which can be considered a female die and the other a male die. Male die 70 has a body portion 110 formed with an opening 112 therethrough which is adapted to be aligned with opening 90 and a beveled end portion 114 which is identical with end 92.

The inner end 116 of the body section has an integral neck portion 118 extending therefrom which has a con- .cave end 12!) on which the under side of a contact 74 adjacent ears 80 is adapted to rest. Positioned opposite die 70 in groove 39 is its complementary die 72 with a body section 122, opening 124 and end section 126 similar to corresponding parts of die 68. The inner end is formed with a recess 128 which has a pair of cylindriform troughs 130, 132 which intersect at a point 134 in the'center thereof. Therefore, when a contact 74 is positioned between dies 70, 72 With the ears'80 extending toward recess 128, and the dies are caused to converge, the ears 80 will intersect and follow the surface of the recess 128 thereby wrapping around the bared portion 82 of the wire as shown in FIG. 8. In order to insure proper cooperation between the two setsof dies 66,68 and'70, 72 both male dies 66,

'70.are connected together by a pin 136 which extends past the surface of die 68 and intersects camming surface 64. As shown in FIGS. 7 and 8, the combined thickness of the two sets of dies and thereturn plate 54 is approximately the same as the depth of groove 39.

Referring now to FIG. 11, a dieholder 18.and die combination-which eliminates the need for return plate 54 is illustrated. Each of the dies 66, 68 and 70, 72 are formed with'an elongated opening which is adapted to align with a pair of pegs 137, 139 that are secured to the dieholder 18 in the bottom of groove 39. A spring 141 is positioned in eachof the openings and-engage the pegs 137 or 139 and the outer end of the openings so that asthe handle 127is rotated in a clockwise direction, the springs are compressed. Therefore, when the handles reach the limit of, convergence and the full cycling mechanism is released, the springs acting against the end of the elongated openings and the pegs, force the dies outwardly from the bore 44 thereby performing the same function as return plate 54 to be hereinafter described.

Referring now to FIGS. 7, 8 9 and 10b, a locator member 140 is illustrated which has an opening 142 therethrough which is adapted to receive the tongue portion 76 of a contact to properly position the contacts ears in relation to the dies for crimping. Locator member 140 comprises a circular body portion 144 and a flange portion 146 which fits over one end of the body portion (see FIG. 7) and extending at right angles thereto. Opening 142 is cut in one side of the body portion 144 with a two step lower surface so that the contact tongue 76 rests on the upper step and the tab portion 77 projects onto and engages the lower step. As best seen in FIG. 9, a pin 148 extends upwardly from the bottom step of the opening 142 and along with the surface 149 of flange 146 prevents the contact 74 from turning in a plane perpendicular to surface 149.

The body portion 144, the diameter of which is substantially the same as the width of the bore 44, is adapted to be positioned in the bore with the flanged portion 146 engaging the outer surface of one side of the enlarged portion 22 of handle 14 and extend therealong. In order to prevent the locator member 14 from rotating, a plate 150 with a groove 152 therein is positioned against the handle 14 with the flanged portion 146 positioned in the groove 152. Four openings 159 are aligned with the openings 24. Located adjacent plate 150 is another plate 156 which has a central circular opening 158 approximately the same size as openings 26 and four equispaced openings 160 which are adapted to align with openings 24 in order that the bolts 28 can extend therethrough and secure both plates to the side of the handle 14 and secure the locator member 140 in the bore 44. As seen in FIGS. b and 7, the end of flange 146 is adapted to strike a projection 162 on the inner surface of plate 146 to limit the movement of the locator member in one direction. Therefore, as seen in FIGS. 7 and 8, the locator member 140 can float along the longitudinal axis of the bore 44 from one extreme where the end of the flange 146 strikes projection 162 to the other extreme where the top side of the locator member strikes the end of the groove 152 in plate 150. The significance of this latitude of movement will be evident from the following discussion of the operation of the tool.

The locator member 140 can thus be formed with different shaped openings to accommodate different shaped contact tongues. By way of illustration, a modified form of tongue and opening are shown in FIG. 12.

Before explaining the operation of the tool, we will first describe the assembly thereof. As shown in the drawings, two pairs of dies 66, 68 and 70, 72 are positioned in groove 39 and connected together by pins 136 and 138 which engage the camming surfaces of return plate 54 which is positioned in the cut away portion of side 35. A pair of springs 50 and balls 51 are placed in ports 46 and 48. This assembly is then positioned in opening 32 in handle 12 with the arms 58 and 60 of return plate 54 and the balls 51 engaging one opposite pair of the camming surfaces 34 and the ends of the dies engaging the other opposite pair of camming surfaces 34.

The assembly of parts shown in FIG. 10a is then positioned between the sides of the enlarged portion 22 of handle 14 with the equispaced openings 37 in the dieholder 18 and openings 24 in the handle 14 aligned. The locator member 140 is then positioned in the bore 44 with the two plates 150 and 156 aligned therewith so that four bolts 28 can extend through the aligned openings and secure the assembly together by means of the four nuts.

The desired distance which the dies converge toward each other depends upon the size of the conductor and the type of contact which is to be attached to it. Since the movement of the dies is in direct response to the relative movement of the handles 12 and 14, an arrangement for controlling the maximum and minimum movement of the handles will control the maximum and minimum movement of the dies. This is accomplished by the stop means and ratchet mechanism 16 mounted in the handles as shown in FIG. 3. Near the free end of handle 12 on the 6 inner surface thereof is mounted a nut 164 and a stop screw 166 threadedly mounted therein. An anvil stop 168 is mounted on handle 14 in alignment with the stop screw 166. A trigger plate 170 is mounted intermediate the stop screw 166 and the anvil stop 168 and is urged against the anvil stop when the handles are moved toward each other. It is apparent that the length of screw 166 and the thickness of the anvil will determine the maximum convergence of the handles and the dies 66, 68 and 70, 72.

Pivotally connected to a rib portion of handle 12 by means of a pin 172 is a rack 174 which is notched to provide a ratchet connection with a pawl 176. The pawl T76 is pivotally mounted to handle 14 as by a pin 178 and is urged in a counterclockwise direction by a spring 180 to normally maintain the pawl 176 in engagement with the rack 174 and thereby limit the outward relative movement of handles 12 and 14. An elongated trigger 182 is attached to the trigger plate 170 at one end and extends just below a pin 184 by which the spring 180 is attached to the pawl 176, the trigger 182 is adapted to force the pawl in a clockwise direction when the stop screw 166 strikes the trigger plate 170 thereby freeing the pawl 176 from the ratchet 174 and allowing the handles to diverge. This ratchet mechanism insures full cycling of the tool. A more detailed description of the ratchet and trigger mechanisms can be found in Patent No. 2,933,000, entitled Crimping Tool, and issued to D. R. Wood on April 19, 1960. Since the above described mechanism is only one of a number of different types of full cycling ratchet devices, we desire that the above be taken merely as illustrative of the class and is included only so that a complete tool will be described.

In order to condition the tool so that a contact can be placed therein to be crimped, the handles 12 and 14 are separated as shown in FIG. 4. As heretofore stated, this causes the return plate 54, whose arms 58 and 60 are in engagement with the camming surfaces 34, to rotate in a counterclockwise direction thereby separating the dies 66, 68 and 70, 72. As shown in FIG. 7, when the dies are separated and no contact is in the bore 44, the flanged portion 146 of the locator member 140 rests on the projection 162 thereby aligning the opening 142 in the body portion 144 with the opening between the two sets of dies and the opening 26 in handle 14.

A contact 74 may then be inserted through the opening 26 into the area between the dies with the tongue 76 extending into the opening 142 in the locator member 1-40 (FIGS. 7 and 8). The amount of insertion is limited by the projection 86 striking the inner edge of the locator member 140, but with other types of contacts, the ears can be used to limit insertion. As heretofore explained, the locator member aligns the ferrule portion of the contact with the two sets of dies such that the ears 80 are aligned with the recess 128 in die 72 and the cars 78 with recess 104 in die 68. A wire is then inserted in the ferrule of the contact 74 with the surface of the locator member 40 limiting the amount of insertion. As the operator then asserts pressure on the handles causing them to converge, the camming surface 34 forces the dies to also converge with the two sets of dies engaging the ears of the contact. Since the dies on both sides of the contact are moving inwardly, it will be apparent that in order to properly position the contact, it must be free or floating in order to align itself. This floating condition is obtained by the locator member riding upwardly in the bore 44 thereby allowing the dies which first engage the contact to carry the contact 74 with it. During the inward movement of the handles 12 and 14, the pawl 176 is in engagement with the rack 174 thereby preventing outward movement of the handles until the tool has gone through the complete crimping cycle. By adjusting the length of the screw 166, the amount of handle and die convergence can be set and when this point is reached, the screw 166 strikes the trigger plate 170 thereby rotating the pawl out of engagement with the rack 174 and allowing the'handles to be opened and the crimped contact removed. The

1 position of the locator member 140 and dies 66, 68 and 70, 72 at the point of maximum convergence is shown in FIG. 8. After the pawl 176 is disengaged fromthe rack 174, the springs 50 will cause the handles to diverge thereby returning the tool to its starting position.

From the foregoing description, it will be apparent that we have provided an improved crimping toolfor made in theparticular forms disclosed andthatother forms are possible, allwithin the spirit'of the invention. For example, the locator member'140 could be prevented from rotating by grooving the sidesrof the circular body .portion 144 rather than having a flanged portion 146. :Hence, we desire that the foregoing shall be taken merely as illustrative and not in a limiting sense.

What is claimed is:

1. A crimping tool comprising (a) a dieholder having a workpiece receiving bore,

(12) at least one pair of opposed crimping dies reciprocably mounted in said dieholder,

(c) actuating means for advancing and retracting said dies toward and from said-workpiece receiving bore, and

(d) floating locator means positioned in said bore having an opening therein in alignment with said workpiece receiving bore adaptedto receive and position aworkpiece in said bore.

2. A crimping tool comprising,

. (a) a dieholder means having a workpiece receiving .bore,

(12) dies shiftably mounted in said dieholder means for advancement and retraction toward and ,.from said bore,

(0) an operating member for simultaneously advancingsaid crimping dies toward said bore,

(d) means normally biasing said dies away fromysaid bore, and

(e) a locator member loosely in in said bore and having an opening therein in :alignment 'with :said bore for receiving and orienting a workpiece between said dies 'so .that the ediestcan :converge on :said

workpiece.

-3. A crimping tool as defined in'claim2 wherein said dies comprise two pairs vof ,juxtapositioned opposed crimping dies.

4. A crimping tool comprising (a) a cylindrical dieholder having an elliptical-shaped axial bore therethrough,

-;(b) one end of-said dieholder having a groove therein communicating with, said bore,

(0) a pair of complementary dies reciprocablyposi- ,tioned-in-said groove on Qppositesides of said bore,

(d) means normally biasing said dies-away from the center of said bore,

(a) an operating member engaging said dies and-be- .ing capable ofrotation with;respectt o said dieholder to cause said dies toconvergeztowardthe.centerrof said opening, and

-(;f) .locator means loosely posit-ionedinsaid .bore:and having an opening therein inalignment withlsaid .bore for receiving and positioning a-workpiece ;in

said bore.

5. A crimping tool as defined inclaim 4cwherein two pairs .of 'juxtapositione'd complementary dies are positioned in said groove on opposite .sides :of -saidopening.

References-Citedin the file ot'this-patent UNITED STATES iPATE-NTS 2,696,747 Bergan .Dec. -,14, .1954 2,714,827 .Kusiv Aug. -9 195.5 2,727,236 Klumpp Dec. 120, 1955 2,744,428 Evans May .8, 1956 2,765,688 Evans :Oct.19, 1956 2,829,549 Demler Apr. I8, 1958 2,892,368 Demler June 30, 1959 2,933,000 Wood Apr. 119 1 950 7 2,947,207 *Demler Aug. 2, 11960 

1. A CRIMPING TOOL COMPRISING (A) A DIEHOLDER HAVING A WORKPIECE RECEIVING BORE, (B) AT LEAST ONE PAIR OF OPPOSED CRIMPING DIES RECIPROCABLY MOUNTED IN SAID DIEHOLDER, (C) ACTUATING MEANS FOR ADVANCING AND RETRACTING SAID DIES TOWARD AND FROM SAID WORKPIECE RECEIVING BORE, AND (D) FLOATING LOCATOR MEANS POSITIONED IN SAID BORE HAVING AN OPENING THEREIN IN ALIGNMENT WITH SAID WORK- 